The distribution of the Oxlip Primula elatior (L.) Hill in Essex
Table 2 Analysis of new Oxlip sites identified by the 2002 survey
Habitat type Number of % of total % increase Revised Percentage of
new sites new sites in habitat number of total sites
_____________________________________________________type_______sites in 2002__________________
Woodland 27 75.0 55.1 76 86.3
Ditch / stream / verge ij 22.2 400 10 11.4
Meadow I 18 100 2 23
Total 36 100 N/a 88 100
Looking at the gains, it is to be expected that a majority are woodlands. They include some i mportant
sites such as Wakeling's Wood - Stansted, Howe Wood - Debden and Clay Wood - Sampford, all
sites that have been known for some time, but not recorded in a formal sense. Also included in the
new woodlands are two completely new sites in the south east of the Oxlip range (Bat Willow
Plantation and Purples Spinney). These are narrow coppiced areas bordering streams and having
black alluvial soils similar to the meadows described by Christy, and containing incredibly vigorous
Oxlips in good numbers. It is possible that not all of these river valley sites have yet been recorded.
One of the new sites is a secondary woodland at Stansted Airport into which Oxlip plants were
translocated from an adjacent site lost to the airport development. The plants continue to do well
after many years, and this site may repay further monitoring should the issue of restocking of sites
ever be considered. All of the sites that remain to be surveyed are woodlands, three of which are
sites mentioned by Christy, and are known to contain Oxlips.
The additional ditch and verge sites probably result from closer surveying . They are all small
colonies of less than 10 plants and will be subject to the risks already highlighted. The one additional
meadow site is at the Aubrey Buxton reserve. The truth is that the Oxlip as a meadow plant is all but
extinct in the county. In view of the plant's history in the Bardfield meadows; its final loss from this
site will be a minor tragedy for conservation in Essex. This is the main change since Jermyn's flora:
the percentage of Oxlip sites that arc woodland has stayed the same, verges and ditches have
increased, whilst meadow sites have continued their decline.
The losses and gains of sites has had a small but noticeable effect on the size of the Oxlip zone in
Essex as mapped by Jermyn. The loss of the meadow sites at Yeldham and Ridgewell has contracted
the area in the north east of the range. Similarly, a cluster of losses around Stebbing, Bardfield and
Boxted contracts the plant's presence in the south east of its range. The survey did not support
Gibson's records of the plant growing in Broomfield and Springfield, to the south of Braintree, and
whether the losses j ust described suggest a more general retreat from this part of the county is open
to debate. The current boundary to the north of Saffron Walden has been slightly increased by the
addition of three woodlands in this area. These are sites mentioned by Christy in his work on the
Oxlip, so their absence from Jermyn's Flora probably means they simply did not get recorded for
some reason, particularly since they are ancient and not secondary woodland sites. On this basis
Christy's distribution is rather more accurate here. The western limit of the Oxlip zone goes more
or less to the boundary with Hertfordshire. Christy's line was a little further cast, following a line
through Quendon and Newport. Jermyn's sites are closer to those recorded in this survey and it is
interesting that a number of the new sites fall in this corridor.
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 19 (2002)
125